Children are entitled to caste identity of adoptive parents: Bombay HC – Hindustan Times

MUMBAI: The Bombay high court has directed authorities to issue a certificate to an 18-year-old Mumbai resident assigning him the caste of his adoptive mother, who is unwed. It said an adopted child is entitled to the caste identity of adoptive parents.

“On adoption, the child becomes a member of the family of the adoptive parents in all respects,” a division bench of justices Sunil Shukre and G A Sanap said on March 8. The detailed order of the bench became available on Thursday.

The bench cited Section 12 of the Hindu Adoption and Maintenance Act, which says that from the date of adoption, all the ties of a child with his birth family get severed. For all purposes, the adopted child becomes that of the adoptive parents.

The woman moved the court through advocate Pradeep Havnur after the authorities refused to grant the Scheduled Caste certificate to her 18-year-old son. The woman’s petition said, though single, she adopted the boy and the adoption was duly approved by the Bombay City Civil Court in October 2009.

A deputy collector in September 2016 rejected her plea for the certificate, saying a Government Resolution of November 2001 requires the father’s caste record to be produced for issuing a caste certificate to a child. Therefore, the unwed woman‘s documents were not accepted for issuing the certificate.

The woman moved the high court after the District Caste Scrutiny Committee for Mumbai on November 30, 2017, rejected her appeal against the deputy collector’s order, citing the absence of specific legal provisions covering adopted children.

Havnur argued the petitioner legitimately adopted the boy and therefore, he was entitled to all the benefits, advantages, and concessions available to a Scheduled Caste person. He added he could not have been denied a certificate, assigning him the case of his mother.

The high court accepted his contention and held the child adopted from an orphanage will be entitled to the caste identity of the mother. It added if the stand taken by the authorities was accepted, it would cause disastrous effects. “One of the effects would be that the child would not get the identity of the mother and particularly caste of the mother,” said the bench. “The very purpose of adopting the child by the petitioner being a single mother would stand frustrated. In our opinion, such a situation could not be envisaged by law.” It declared that the November 2001 resolution will not be applicable in situations where children have been adopted by single or unwed women.